@mattmcguire
Hey Matt!
From what I read in the bible, especially Romans 5-8 and 1. John, I can see a clear path towards the interpretation, that our sinful nature is completely changed in the moment of salvation and we can learn to live in a reality, that is already here. 2. Cor. 5 is also quite clear about this.
I might err just as Crowder may does, but one thing seems clear to me, that we shouldn't use intuition, common sense and value our experiences in the light of the gospel
@mattmcguire
I believe that there is two aspects that need to be considered:
1) God sees us as holy people, because we are in Christ and nothing is ever going to get us "out of Christ" if we don't deliberately choose to forsake him. The way God sees us is reality.
2) Our practical conduct of life. We need to learn and accept our new identity as holy people and we need to adapt to a new way of thinking (love, not business). This may take some time
@Matthias I think we are mostly on the same page, except with different terminology. For example, Peter sinned when he feared the Judaizers (Gal. 2:11-14), even though he had been saved and baptized with the Spirit. Perhaps you can say that he didn't have a "sin nature", but he certainly had a "nature that is capable of sinning", whatever you want to call it. That being said, I agree that we ought to see ourselves as God sees us, which will be empowering for holy and joyful living.
@mattmcguire
Oh I so agree!!
God didn't strip us of our free will, so we have to have an ability to sin.
When we start believing the truth about who we are now that Christ came, walking towards holiness becomes something natural, because we just start to live out what we already are instead of trying to be something and biting our lips in order to achieve something we know, we never will be able to do.
@Matthias thanks for the input! I agree that our nature is radically changed at salvation (and potentially in "second blessing" experiences, though I haven't solidified my opinion on that yet). Praise God! But I do think using the word "eradicated" stretches the truth about what we are still capable of after being reborn.